It turned out to not only be the biggest match of the season for United, but also the most controversial. Not only did Real Madrid secure a victory over the Premier League giants in controversial circumstances, but then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson took the controversial decision of leaving out Wayne Rooney. He dropped him to the bench in favour of the more experienced – and older – Ryan Giggs in a match they needed to win at all costs, having secured an impressive draw in the first leg at Santiago Bernabeu after being battered and outclassed by Madrid’s flambouyant attack led by ex-Man Utd man, Cristiano Ronaldo, for much of the first half. Rooney was sidelined in favour of £23m summer arrival from Arsenal, Robin van Persie.
This decision did not go down well with the ill-tempered Wayne Rooney after it became clear what his position and importance to the club
was. Indeed, it all began with the arrival of the flying Dutchman who netted 30 goals in the 2011/2012 season before his arrival at the Old Trafford outfit. Rooney had
to settle for a deeper role in United’s less-than-reliable midfield instead of his
preferred role as the front man. Throughout the season, Rooney’s goals return
was spectacularly overshadowed by that of the Dutch captain, netting a measly 12 goals
as against 26 for van Persie who incidentally ended up as the English Premier League's top scorer
again, for the second consecutive season, though he, Rooney, played only 26 games and van Persie ended up playing in all of United's Premier League games. This is in addition to Rooney being
stripped of his position as Manchester United’s designated penalty taker. This bitter
relationship reached a crescendo in the said 2nd leg match with Real
Madrid in a must win game for the Red Devils. Rooney again had to settle for a
place behind star man RVP, but not only that, he was dropped entirely from the
starting eleven and had to watch the greater part of the match from the bench
like every other spectator who paid close to a thousand pounds for the opportunity.
Rooney was eventually brought into the match when it became
clear that thinker-man Alex Ferguson’s match tactics were not going according
to plan, but it was perhaps a case of too little, too late. I was particularly
glad that Rooney did not lose his cool the way ex-Manchester City captain and
now Juventus number 10, Carlos Tevez, did in that unforgettable and infamous Bayern Munich fiasco. When it became glaringly clear that there was no proverbial
light at the end of the dark tunnel for Wayne Rooney, he made up his mind and tendered a transfer request to Man Utd offials in March, as confirmed by the then-outgoing United manager, Sir Alex. As was expected, the request was
rejected and was even denied in some quarters at the club.
The relationship turned from very bitter to acidic in May when it was announced
that David Moyes was Sir Alex’s handpicked choice to succeed him at the helm of
footballing affairs at Old Trafford. This was a man that sued Rooney in
2008 for libel and also the man who gave him his first shot at the limelight
way back at Everton when the going was good.
To him (Rooney), this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There
was no way he was going to mend his relationship with David Moyes – or United.
His mind was made up and it became clear to everyone that he was leaving. As if
that was not enough, the tumultuous relation with United hit another low last weekend
when Rooney had to pull out of United’s preseason tour of Australia and Europe
which led David Moyes saying and I quote "Overall, my thought on Wayne is that if for any reason we had an injury to Robin van Persie we are going to need him, I want as many options as possible”. This statement, once again,
left Rooney fuming as the manager confirmed the obvious: there was no way Rooney was going to reclaim his starring role from Robin van Persie even if he had entertained
slim hopes of doing so.
That was it! He could take the insults and humiliations no
more and Rooney now seems bent on abandoning the Old Trafford side, a side that
he had played with for nine seasons, making 277 appearances and scoring 141 goals, winning 5 English Premier League trophies and a Champions League glory in2008 at the expense of Chelsea in the process.
Now the big question is: Where will Wayne Rooney go to?
There has been reports that Wayne Rooney has courted
interest from a couple of big names in world football, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG among the leading candidates. But with PSG confirming yesterday that they have secured the services of the lethal Uruguayan hit-man Edison Cavani (and they already have Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their ranks) and Arsenal,
who are not known for their financial extravagancy, reportedly on their way to
signing a host of top-class players in the likes of Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez it means
that Chelsea and Real Madrid are the only clubs that are realistically in the
running to secure the services of Wayne Rooney. However, Real Madrid’s helmsman
and former Chelsea honcho who replaced Jose Mourinho at the Santiago Bernabeu
club, have so far shown little or no interest in securing the services of the
England's number 10, having recently added Illarramendi to their ranks and are
still on the look out for exciting, young players who can play tiki-taka
football.
This analogy leaves Chelsea as the only realistic candidates
in the “race” to sign Wayne Rooney. A whole lot of Chelsea stalwarts have been
stoking the fire of recent, with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho making no
secrets of his admiration for the Englishman by heaping praises on him and
telling the media how terrible it would be for England’s Three Lions at next
year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil should Rooney be reduced to a bit-part role at
Manchester United should Moyes make do his threats. A couple of Chelsea players like
second vice-captain Petr Cech have also said that they would welcome Rooney at
Chelsea with open arms, should he decide to swap the rowdy central city of
Manchester, for the serene estates of Fulham, London. In addition to that, Chelsea have also gone the furthest by reportedly tabling a £10m-plus-Luiz-or-Mata bid for Wayne Rooney which was rejected by Manchester United this morning and Mourinho has once been reported to have been on the verge of swooping Rooney from Manchester United in his first stint as Chelsea boss.
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